Basically i was looking for some help. I currently have one guitar, I have a Ibanez RG350DX that has a tremelo (can't go to a lower tuning because of it, i want to keep my guitar in E/drop d for obvious reasons) however i want to add to my collection but i have come at a cross roads. I can listen from thrash to metalcore and i try and play a lot of it. I currently use my Ibanez for E standard and Drop D tunings.

I am looking to get another guitar so i can adjust to a more lower tuning however i am not sure whether or not to get a 6 string with a heavy gauge string set so i can maybe reach half a step down (slayerish tuning) to the highest i could go? Maybe even having drop d as the highest it could go, im not sure. What would be the biggest gap i could reach with a heavier string set?

I have recently looked at a few seven string guitars, however i still do not understand the tunings. BEADGBE < A normal six string with an extra B right? Could that lets say, be tuned into Machine Head's Drop B? Or some other lower tuning that Parkway would use? Or into C flat for Lamb of god's new album? I've searched but no where has given me a clear answer on this.

If you wanted to use drop B, and keeping the seventh string as a B, you'll have to tune the other strings up a whole tone. If you didn't want to tune up, the highest drop tuning you could use would be drop A. Unless you wanted to drop your E string and your low B string. Or you could simply learn to play drop B songs in B standard instead.

It would be a bad idea to get a 7 string and tune it up to Drop B. That'd mean raising the highest 6 strings up a whole tone, which is a bad idea generally speaking. Get a 6 string with heavier gauge strings. What gauge strings are you using for your ibanez in standard/drop d?

It would be a bad idea to get a 7 string and tune it up to Drop B. That'd mean raising the highest 6 strings up a whole tone, which is a bad idea generally speaking. Get a 6 string with heavier gauge strings. What gauge strings are you using for your ibanez in standard/drop d?

I'll chime in and say that tuning up is an option; at least, if you're only going as high as drop B. You just need lighter strings is all. You'll end up with a high F# string which should be easy enough to get. I've gotten a high G with an .008 on a 27" neck, so getting F# on a shorter scale would be easy.

You also don't have to tune everything up. You could tune the lowest six strings to a normal six-string drop B tuning, and have a high E string instead of F#. You'll have a minor third interval on top instead of a perfect fourth, and that can give some interesting phrasing opportunities. If you're willing to consider it, of course.